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This is all well reasoned, but there are about a dozen reasons why launching your own IP is preferable to licensing someone else's, and "some RPG fans are kind of dicks online" is quite low on the list.

I am actually willing to bet that eyebeams' client is one of the various game companies that made an MMO or other game based on a table RPG franchise. D&D Online, Champions Online, Warhammer Online, that Shadowrun FPS, take your pick. They all have probably suffered from this situation, where the very fans targeted by their choice of IP doom their product. When was the last time anyone advertised D&D Online here at ENWorld, or even at WotC's site for that matter? I have to admit that I haven't seen it in a long time.

How do companies respond to this problem? They don't license tabletop RPG IP anymore. It is the cheapest solution for them. So we probably won't get a Pathfinder Online, or a new Baldur's Gate or Planescape Torment, unless the RPG community gets its act together. This is why RPG enthusiasts don't get nice things.

This goes back to the quality problem. It isn't the mean ol' gamers like to hate on D&D Online, its that D&D Online is a terrible game. I've known many people to download it, because they like MMOs and D&D, only to uninstall it a couple of hours later. Other D&D licensed games in the past were quite successful - you mentioned several of them. I spent many hours on forums during my Neverwinter Nights phase, so its not like the internet was not around.

Tying something in does NOT mean gamers will automatically eat it up. It can get attention, but honestly I like the Buffy RPG for its great writing and mechanics, not just that was licensed from a show I like.

I like how the blog is set up so that if you are a gamer and reject or have issue with what the points raised in the article, you are acting exactly how the blog claims all gamers are (cynical argumentative types). And if you agree, you are also agreeing what the blog claims all gamers are....

I am actually willing to bet that eyebeams' client is one of the various game companies that made an MMO or other game based on a table RPG franchise. D&D Online, Champions Online, Warhammer Online, that Shadowrun FPS, take your pick. They all have probably suffered from this situation, where the very fans targeted by their choice of IP doom their product.

How would anyone know? Those games are all, let's be frank, B- games. Sure, they're fun, but they are not especially good. If cranky fans doomed those games, the world is not much poorer for it. Again, this sounds like blaming fans for not wholeheartedly swallowing inferior products.

I am actually willing to bet that eyebeams' client is one of the various game companies that made an MMO or other game based on a table RPG franchise. D&D Online, Champions Online, Warhammer Online, that Shadowrun FPS, take your pick. They all have probably suffered from this situation, where the very fans targeted by their choice of IP doom their product. When was the last time anyone advertised D&D Online here at ENWorld, or even at WotC's site for that matter? I have to admit that I haven't seen it in a long time.

I dunno. It sounded to me like it could easily have been someone trying to market a Facebook app or other small-time online game tool, not an MMO. Something you could interact with, be social with people, and that had a revenue generator that sounded less like a mandatory subscription than an option... at least that's the impression I got.

Bill D

"There's a fine line between a superpower and a chronic medical condition."
- Doctor Impossible

Eh. I see it more as gamers are something like what most consumers are going to be like in a generation or two.

The Industrial Era "passive consumer of centrally produce content" is somewhat of a fading star. They will grow more and more niche in the future (though they probably won't be totally eliminated, ever).

You will have vocal, opinionated, impossible-to-please consumers who arbitrarily decide that they don't like the CEO's haircut, so no, they are not going to make a purchase of your Whatsit.

Consumers are more and more interested and engaged with what they consume, and who they consume it from. Foodies and Makers and Remixers and YouTubers and Ben & Jerry's. Christopher Nolan and Joss Whedon.

It is part of what transmedia is actually starting to get at: there is no mass market, there are millions and millions of mini-markets, and consumers will travel across them if the reward is right.

Gamers are there already. Learning how to engage with and work within the limits imposed by your target audience in the RPG industry (and industries like it) will educate the people who are going to lead the large companies of the future.

"I never read this book but it sucks and you should steal it" is actually constructive, and should telling you at least two things: #1: Your distribution model might need to be different; #2: You might need people reading your stuff before you start charging them.

That's what a lot of Gareth-Michael Skarka's posts about transmedia RPGing address: build the fanbase, then charge them.

It's something that I bet even a WotC-sized company could benefit from.

I mean, who wouldn't want a big picture of the 1e Deities and Demigods cover hanging over their living room couch?

(tongue firmly in cheek)

Can someone enlighten me as to what exactly is transmedia, and name a few large corporations embracing this concept?

Regarding the first part of your question, I'm surprised that nobody else has posted this obvious answer yet:

"transmedia" is the Latin plural of "trance medium" -- which is a person who goes into an altered state of mind for the purpose of contacting immaterial spirits who are supposed to be able to provide some desired information about how well your multi-pronged media project is going to sell.

Original Member of the Rouseketeers! ("mmnnaarrrrrrrrr")evanescent detergency

Let me give an example of the kind of behavior that I think is being talked about.

Imagine, if you will, a fan of the Lord of the Rings books who is upset that the first Lord of the Rings movie did not include Tom Bombadil.

In any internet site that he frequents, whenever the Lord of the Rings movie is discussed, he will add his comment that he thinks it's a bad movie. Or rather, he will say that it is a bad movie as if it was an objective fact instead of presenting it as his opinion.

He will probably have a signature that makes disparaging comments about the Lord of the Rings movie, and the intellectual capacities of the writers, the directors, and the people who liked the movie, so that his dislike of the move is repeatedly referenced in every post that he makes.

In any thread which discusses the next two movies, he will post how bad the first movie was, and attempt to steer the conversation in a negative direction with questions like, "What are they going to ruin next?"

If he becomes aware that the directors or the writers of the Lord of the Rings movie are going to be involved in any other project, he will post comments explaining how they are terrible people and how he hopes that their project fails.

If any of the above seems vaguely plausible to you, then you have an inkling of the issues (real or perceived) that are behind the original blog post.

And remember, we are talking about fictional works here! At least in discussions about politics and economics, there are real lives and livelihoods which could be made better or worse depending on the final outcome arrived at.